Personal History:

I received the degree of Industrial Engineer in Biotechnology from the Institut Supérieur Industriel de la Province de Liège, Belgium, and my B.S. and Ph.D. in Applied Natural Sciences from the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium. I was a postdoctoral fellow and a faculty member at the Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) / J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) in Rockville, MD (1997-2007). I am currently affiliated with the Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS).

I have been in the genomics field for over 20 years, since the beginning of my B.Sc. in 1991. Over these two decades I have led the genome sequencing and analysis of many organisms, starting with eukaryotic chromosomes then shifting towards bacterial pathogens (over 300 genomes). I was the lead author on the first published genomes of Neisseria meningitidis , Streptococcus pneumoniae , and Streptococcus agalactiae. In collaboration with the group of Dr. Rino Rappuoli at Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics (former Chiron Corporation), I pioneered the fields of reverse vaccinology and pan-genomics. The former makes use of genomics to identify novel protein candidates for vaccine development. The latter is the characterization of the genome content of an entire species using multiple strains. I have led recent developments of the Sybil software package that is aimed at the comparative genomic analysis of closely related bacterial genomes to understand their lifecycle, characterize their diversity, and identify novel candidates for vaccine development. In addition to genome sequencing, I have conducted many studies of bacterial diversity and transcriptional profiling using DNA microarrays and RNA-Seq.

Research Interests:

My general interests are the use of genomics, comparative genomics, and functional genomics to understand bacterial diversity and virulence, study host-pathogen interactions, and identify vaccine candidates and drug targets to cure disease.